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Necrotic War
At a Glance The Necrotic War was the name given to two of the most devastating conflicts to ever occur on the mortal plane. The First Necrotic War was a worldwide conflict fought between Stirlar the Imperishable and his Skaven allies against the combined kingdoms of The Near Reaches, Tel'Quessir, The Steelsands, and The Heartland. Many towns were decimated and abandoned as a result of the war and parts of the world have been left permanently scarred by its foul magics. The Second Necrotic War was a centralized conflict, but no less devastating, that erupted between the secretive Cult of Vecna and the kingdoms of Central Dominaria. The heroes of the war, The Fate Dancers, were a group of for-riches adventurers who brokered peace between the opposing armies of Kirkdom and Pallanaise to take down the Cult of Vecna. The First Necrotic War As the city of Andea watched aghast as Stirlar's reign of terror increased, it was some two centuries after being forced to witness what they saw as blasphemy that would bring the wrath of the Gods upon them that the citizens of Andea sought to remove Stirlar from the throne. Calling for help from across the mortal plane, the people of Andea, lead by Sitara the Blessed who was cousin to Stirlar, marched on Dondea. Refusing to give up his throne, or his life, Stirlar raised a horde of skeletons to destroy his attackers. In the death-obsessed culture of Dondea and Andea, this was recognized as the greatest of obscenities. Hundreds panicked, terrified by thoughts of battling the departed, and although many fled at the sight of the skeletal army, Sitara's forces pressed on. Concluding it was better to kill everything in the kingdom than to see it ruled by someone else, Stirlar began the First Necrotic War - a conflict that would stretch the globe as Stirlar escaped from Dondea with the objective of subjugating all life to his command. The meek defenses put up to stop his invasions were thwarted his the growing undead army, and not long after the conflict had gone global -- no-one, not even seperated by oceans or seas, were safe. For decades the world fell into darkness under the fear of the shambling undead. Pursued to the edges of the world, Stirlar allied with the Skaven, a race of short-lived rat-hengeyokaifrom the far south, who helped ferry him through the subterranean passages of the world. At the pinnacle of his power, Stirlar planned to unleash a wave of sorcery that would wash over the land for hundreds of miles, causing everyhting that was living to decay and died, and all that was dead to rise again in an unholy affront ot life. He may very well have succeeded, if his allies had not betrayed him. Realizing the threat posed by the latest development, the Queen of the Skaven, Nehekhara, realized that if Stirlar would succeed, he would be all but unstoppable and the Skaven would be dead. Rather thank risk the lives of her people for the promise of immortality, she had a blade made in secret that was so powerful that it would kill not just its victim, but also its wielder. As Stirlar began to unleash his spell on the free kingdomsNehekhara leaped with the blade in hand. A force to be reckoned with, Stirlar easily evaded the attempt on his life and began to strip the flesh from Nehekhara, taunting her for her affront on his life. In his moment of arrogance, Stirlar plucked the tiny blade from Nehekhara's hands, mocking it. It was at this point Nehekhara smiled and let out her last breath. With that a blast of blue fell flame erupted across Stirlar undead form, burning his soul, mind, and body. As he died, Stirlar's screams could be heard as far as the hills of Tel'Quessirto beneath the mountains of The Steelsands. It was at this moment that Nehekhara's sacrifice saved the world. The Necrotic War was over. Following the war, Dondea and Andea rebuild their society, installing a democratic Council of Two that would rule the twin cities and prevent such corruption from ever occuringg again. Regrettably, the damage done had drawn the ire of The Raven Queen herself who, thousands of years later, would raise the citadel Halruth from her realm of The Shadowfell to remind the Deva that death was an inevitable part of being mortal, and that no mortal (not even Stirlar) was beyond it. The Second Necrotic War Since the world's creation the powers of life and death had been held in check by Oghma and The Raven Queen their fair patronage of life and death were hardly something to be feared. They were as natural as the seasons. Perhaps this is why the appearance of necromancers came as such a shock -- and why the results were so horrrifying. Seeking to triumph over the Raven Queen's realm and extend their lives, a group of mages from Neverwinter conjured a portal for Vecna, the God of Undeath, to spring into the world using Gabrielle Revvan as a vessle. Giving the leader of the Cult of Vecna and her colleages unbelievably potent necrotic powers, there was but one limitation to their power: they could only work with dead material. The Cult of Vecna remained in hiding for little more than a year, pracitingg their rituals as the Kirkdom-Pallanaise war raged across the land -- creating ideal dead material with which to work with. It was from these marshes that the undead rose, places of chaos as men were pulled into the mud by the dead and rotting. The lucky ones, history remembers, drowned in the mud before they were consumed into the undead horde. The world was under seige. As the war spread out across Central Dominaria, even the reclusive Drow collapsed tunnels to the Underdark and Dwarves hid in their mountains. Only Kirkdom and Pallanaise stood against the swarm of undead. One boy, Donald Behlin, later recounted that he had prayed to Oghma for salvation as he hid beneath his bed watching a ghoul topple his father. In the biography of his life, Black Times, Donald said that he considered praying to Demons so long as he would be rescued. Donald Behlin would later paint the famous Salt Gohlin mural in the Church of Oghma detailing the horrors of the time. As the war went on the Cult of Vecna became more confident. Gabrielle Revvan openly marched her abomanations on Al'Vannadir, lead by Talmon Bott. As the Elven city burned the city to the ground a cunning necromancer hounded the southern lands and dragged people into the night. Across the countryside, Kirkdom soldiers continued to fall back through under the pressure of the feared Skull Knight. Realizing the desperation of the situation King Kirk XII of Kirkdom made a tactical decision. Seeing the flames of Pallanaise from his fortress-observatory, Kirk realized that without a joint alliance all would be lost. Sending his messenger hawk "Highwind" to the republic of Pallanaise, Kirk proposed a ceasefire to deal with the marching death along with a daring plan to catch the Necromancers off guard. Days later a reply was sent. Pallanaise agreed. Banding together the forces of Pallanaise and Kirkdom were able to push the forces of undeath out of Neverwinter and back into open fields. The true tipping point came as a group of adventurers called The Fate Dancers turned their attention away from loot and plunder and to the idea of a greater good. This band of heroes (who would go down in history as the first "adventurers") helped lead the armies of Pallanaise and Kirkdom and in doing so cut off Feryl Rimple and Puffin Tan from the leadership of Gabrielle Revvan and her chief tactician Talmon Bott. Moving forward, the armies of the free-world marched into The Battle of Necrotic Canyon. It was on this field of battle that, pushed against the wall, Gabrielle Revvan unleashed her most diabolical of monstrosities, the Abominations. These monsters were covered in wailing maws and stitched together from the remains of dead soldiers. They moved forward, primed to kill and eat, feeding their mass to become larger and deadlier. Stepping up to the battle, The Fate Dancers took to the frontline and began to cut a swath for the armies of Kirkdom and Pallanaise. Talmon Bott, an incredible tactician, wouldn't be so easily dealt with. Engaging The Fate Dancers from behind he was able to overwhelm their ranks, kill two of their members, and came dangerously close to killing King Kirk. Believing to have successfully dispatched a third member of The Fate Dancers, Talmon was unexpectedly rebuffed with an arrow to his mask when the third member unleashed a precise arrow, wounding Talmon and saving King Kirk. Moving deeper into the canyon, The armies and Fate Dancers revived their initiative and pressed into Gabrielle Revvan's inner sanctum. After a climactic battle that revealed Revvan's powers as far exceeding those that were expected, Revann revealed she was with child, the reborn Vecna. Without a moment to spare, he was killed. The aftermath of the Necrotic War stained the once beautiful lands of the realm. Several towns were left uninhabitable due to the high necrotic energy and several thousands of lives had been lost or left tarnished by madness. As the forces of the free-realm reeled from the experience, the necromancers Talmon Bott, Puffin Tan, and Feryl Rimple were still unaccounted for.